Studies of an Autumn Day

The glow of the sun just edging over the horizon tints the broken clouds a range of colors from pale violet to gold, in the second of John Leslie Breck's Studies of an Autumn Day, a serial portrait of three grainstacks in an open field viewed from the same spot at different times of day. In this painting the brilliance of the light from the sky throws the looming forms of the globular stacks and the line of trees on the right horizon into shadow. Details are minimized and the appearance of the receding ground in the lower half of the composition is flattened by the application of paint in a finely textured pattern of small, distinct strokes of green and brown. The contrast between the brilliance of the skyscape and the static presence of the earthbound forms below captures the quiet drama of daybreak. Aside from the last painting in the series, this is the only canvas signed by the artist, and it is the only one that bears a date.

Throughout Breck's series, the hay mounds and the farm buildings backed by a gentle ridge in the background maintain their position as their colors, textures, and shadows evolve with the moving sun and changing atmospheric conditions in the manner of time-lapse still photography. Although only twelve paintings of the series now are known to exist, Breck painted fifteen, as indicated by the numbered stanzas that comprise the poem “The Day (On Seeing John Leslie Breck’s ‘Studies of an Autumn Day’),” by the artist’s brother Edward.  Exhibited under the title Studies of an Autumn Day in 1893 and called Continual Studies of the Same Day in the 1900 memorial exhibition of Breck’s work, the paintings can be arranged so as to show time’s passage in what appears to be a single day. In fact, they were created over the course of three days, which is suggested by the contrast between the cloudscapes in this work and the preceding view (TF 1989.4.1). Breck evidently worked on these small, portable canvases outdoors before his subject, carefully maintaining the position of his easel so as to picture exactly the same view in all the renderings. The result is a deliberately observed, almost scientifically dispassionate examination of optical phenomena that nonetheless conveys a hushed reverence for the immutability of natural cycles, climaxing in the evocative image of the rising golden autumn moon in the final, fully signed painting.

Breck painted Studies of an Autumn Day during the last weeks he spent in the artists’ colony in the rural village Giverny, in Normandy, France. Breck had first visited in 1887, one of the first of many American artist-visitors who worked there experimenting with the outdoor painting method, divided brushstrokes, and bright colors of impressionism. As one of the few visitors admitted to the inner circle of impressionist pioneer Claude Monet (1840–1926), Breck was inspired by the master’s subjects as well as his style. Studies of an Autumn Day appears a direct homage to Monet, who the year before had begun his serial interpretations of the grainstacks that dotted the fields surrounding Giverny during the harvest season. Yet the methodical, even mechanical exactitude of Breck’s approach, extending to his method of applying paint in small, nervous but controlled touches, suggests also his awareness of the experimental art of French painter Georges Seurat (1859–1891), whose so-called neoimpressionism imposed a scientific detachment on impressionism’s broken brushstrokes, pure color, and emphasis on purely visual experience. Studies of an Autumn Day marked not only the limits of Breck’s engagement with such radical new ways of painting but the end of his sojourn in Giverny. About the time he made his series, Monet broke off his relationship with Breck, alarmed at the American’s romantic interest in his stepdaughter Blanche Hoschedé and possibly also by his artistic emulation. In addition to Studies of an Autumn Day, Breck painted as many as three other paintings of grainstacks, including Morning Fog and Sun (TF 1999.19).

Paintings by John Leslie Breck, Chase's Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, January 16–28, 1893 (as Studies of an Autumn Day).

Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by John Leslie Breck, National Arts Club, New York, New York, February 24–March 10, 1900 (as Continuous Studies of the Same Day). [exh. cat.]

Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915 (Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 1–November 1, 1992; April 1-October 31, 1993; April 1–October 30, 1994; April 1–October 31, 1995. [exh. cat.]

American Artists and the Paris Experience, 1880–1910, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 22, 1997–March 8, 1998.

Giverny: une impression américaine (Giverny, An American Impression), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–November 1, 1998.

Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920 (The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 15, 1999. [exh. cat.]

Permanent collection installation, Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 1, 2001.

D'une colonie à une collection: le Musée d'Art Américain Giverny fête ses dix ans (From a Colony to a Collection: Celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of the Musée d'Art Américain Giverny), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, March 30–June 16, 2002 (on exhibit extended run: March 30-November 30, 2002).

En Plein Air: American Painters in Giverny, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 8–May 25, 2003.

Studied Abroad: Painted Impressions from the Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, September 6, 2003–April 4, 2004.

Impressionist Giverny: A Colony of Artists, 1885–1915, Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 1, 2007; San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA, July 21–October 14, 2007. [exh. cat.]

Impressionist Giverny: The Americans, 1885-1915, Selections from the Terra Foundation for American Art, Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Florence Griswold Museum of Art, Old Lyme, Connecticut, May 3–July 27, 2008; Albany Institute of History & Art, Albany, New York, August 23, 2008–January 4, 2009.

Monet and the Artists of Giverny: The Beginning of American Impressionism, The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan with the Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venues:  Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Kitakyushu, Japan,  October 9–November 28, 2010; The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan, December 7, 2010–February 17, 2011; The Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan,  February 25–April 10, 2011. [exh. cat.]

American Impressionism: a New Vision, 1880–1900 (L'Impressionnisme et les Américains/ Impresionismo Americano (French & Spanish titles), Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, Giverny, France and the Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois in collaboration with the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, United Kingdom and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain (organizers). Venues: Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, Giverny, France, March 28–June 29, 2014; Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, July 19–October 19, 2014; Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain, November 4, 2014–February 1, 2015. [exh. cat.]

The Studio of Nature, 1860-1910: The Terra Collection in Context (L’atelier de la Nature, 1860-1910. Invitation à la Terra Collection). Terra Foundation for American Art with the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny (organizers). Venue: Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, France, September 12, 2020–January 3, 2021. [exh. cat. in French]

John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist, Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina (organizer); Venues: Mint Museum Uptown: September 18, 2021 – January 2, 2022; Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee: January 22 – March 27, 2022; Figge Museum of American Art, Davenport, Iowa: May 28 – August 28, 2022. [exh. cat.]

     

Gerdts, William H. et al. Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text pp. 146–47; pl. 18/2, p. 159 (color).

Gerdts, William H. et al. Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text pp. 146–47; pl. 18/2, p. 159 (color).

Gomes, Rosalie. Impressions of Giverny: A Painter's Paradise 1883–1914. San Francisco, California: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1995. Text p. 23, pl. 10A, p. 20 (color).

Stuckey, Charles F. Claude Monet, 1840–1926. (exh. cat., The Art Institute of Chicago). Chicago, Illinois: The Art Institute of Chicago, with Thames and Hudson, 1995, pp. 220–21.

Cartwright, Derrick R. The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1999. Text p. 23 (checklist).

Cartwright, Derrick R. Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1999. Text p. 23 (checklist).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. et al. Impressionist Giverny: A Colony of Artists, 1885–1915. (exh. cat. Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007. Text pp. 23, 36, 66, 102, 204 (checklist); cat. p. 108 (color).

Kahng, Eik, ed. The Repeating Image: Multiples in French Painting from David to Matisse. (exh. cat. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD) Baltimore, Maryland: The Walters Art Museum, 2007.  Text p. 93; Fig. 20, p. 92 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M., Shunsuke Kijima and Sanjiro Minamikawa. Monet and the Artists of Giverny: The Beginning of American Impressionism. (exh. cat. Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, and The Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art). Fukuoka, Japan: The Nishinippon Shimbun, 2010. Text cat. no. 37, pp.90 (in Japanese), 185 (in English); ill. p. 91, 92 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine and Valerie Reis. The Studio of Nature, 1860-1910: The Terra Collection in Context. (exh. cat, Terra Foundation for American Art with the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny). Paris, France: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2020.  Text pp. 28-29; ill. p. 140 (detail); Pl. 67, p. 141 (color).